How To Stand Up For Yourself And Stop Being A Pushover

“Bullies want to abuse you. Instead of allowing that, you can use them as your personal motivators. Power up and let the bully eat your dust.”

Nick Vujicic (Australian motivational speaker)

“If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

Margaret Thatcher (British politician)

“If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.”

Thomas J. Watson (American businessman)

I slipped into being a pushover once.

Okay – more than once.

The last time was when I was working a corporate job.

One of the middle managers liked everything done a certain way.

His way.

Even when it didn’t make sense.

Or didn’t matter.

He wanted all my PowerPoint presentations to be in Comic Sans font.

Seriously – who uses Comic Sans?

The guy was a moron.

A micromanaging moron.

I put up a fight once, but then he got red in the face during a meeting and yelled at me.

Then he went to his manager and then I had to talk to, like, 5 people about why I didn’t want to use Comic Sans.

It was a huge hassle.

So next time, I just obeyed.

Like a small dog.

Like a terrier.

Or a pug.

From that point on, it got easier and easier to obey.

Look—it’s easy to be a pushover.

Someone with a lot of authority over you tells you what to do…

And you obey.

Then someone with a little less authority over you tells you what to do…

I’m not suggesting you start pounding your chest or flipping tables in the boardroom, but start paying attention to your impulses and how much energy is being wasted by these interactions with bullies.

Then make a logical plan to set limits.

There are people in your life whom you want to impress just because they’re well-liked or have power.

You’re striving for external validation that you should be cultivating on your own.

The way to stop being a people-pleaser is to start pleasing yourself.

Start standing up for yourself.

Start putting yourself first.

Popular people have confidence and charisma… start developing those in yourself.

Popular people have power and influence… start developing those in yourself.

The ones that abuse their power and act like bullies, by shaming you and putting you down, are toxic and you need to summon the courage to get rid of them.

When you start setting limits on bullies and start standing up for yourself, you increase your own power.

You start moving into your life with confidence.

You can continue to chase after people in hopes that they’ll take you home like a lost puppy and you’ll continue to feel weak and helpless…

Or you’ll decide enough is enough and start setting limits and being your own leader.

Stop going home at the end of each day ruminating about your power-hungry boss or your judgmental family member.

Popularity and power can create an ugly combination and turn people into bullies. They can try and overpower you and kick you down to make you work harder to please them only because they know you’re too weak to stand up to them. Stop compromising your value and second-guessing yourself. Stop seeking external validation from others. Popularity doesn’t mean a person is right. It doesn’t mean they are better than you. Identify the bullies in your life. Notice how they drain your energy and your confidence. Start setting limits and stop comparing yourself to others. Stop being a pushover and stand up for yourself so you can increase your own power and influence.

To learn more about how to stop being such a pushover and to stand up to your bullies in life, and to get instant access to exclusive training videos, case studies, insider documents, and my private online network, get on the Escape Plan wait list.